El
Dorado, City of Gold (1968)
Capturing Band of the Year
15 times and recently second
place in ’07 & ’08, Louis
Saldenah Mas-K Club is presenting
A Tribute to Harold Saldenah
this Caribana 2K9.
Louis father Harold Saldenah
was a legend in Trinidad Carnival,
producing his band in the
1950’s-1970’s. He created
many historical epics including
his first Band of the Year
win, Imperial Rome.
Bands that best display the
use of colour are awarded
a Harold Saldenah Award. Due
to his band growing larger,
he was a pioneer of “section
mas”, putting masqueraders
into sections to represent
the entire theme. Harold Saldenah
immigrated to Canada in 1977
and brought his mas to Caribana.Here
is my interview with Louis
Saldenah.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
» ~K~ : Louis,
what are some of the themes
we can expect for your presentation
in tribute to your father?
L.S.: The
sections are: El Dorado, City
of Gold; Festival of the Tembu
Warriors; Mexico 1519-1521;
Fantasy in Jewels; Psychedelic
Latin America; Glory of Greece;
Masquerade to Carnival; Atlantis;
Crees of Canada and Pacific
Paradise.
» ~K~
: How do you decide on a presentation?
Where do you get your inspiration
from?
L.S.: I decided
to pay a tribute to my father
since he contributed greatly
to Trinidad Carnival and I
could not leave the Caribana
area without paying respect
to one of the great bandleaders,
so that happens to be my father.
» ~K~ : Do your section designers get their materials and supplies locally, or from an international supplier?
L.S.: All our costumes are being built in the mas camp except one. I do not believe in getting ready-made costumes, for example China and India.
» ~K~ : How is the order of the bands chosen?
L.S.: The top eight bands draw in the position of the results of Band of the Year the previous year. For example: I placed second last year, I was called second to draw from 7 balls, 3rd place draw from 6 balls, etc.
» ~K~ : Security at Caribana has become a concern over the years (with people not in costumes entering the band/parade route). What are your thoughts on how to deal with this issue? How has your band had to adjust to this?
L.S.: Last year was the first time in years that we went 8 and it was a disaster. I have told the City and the festival management team over the years that if they can't control the crowd, lets cancel the costume part and have one big blocko. I have spoken to the Deputy Chief of Police a few weeks ago advising him of the serious problem we have with spectators coming into the bands and if the problem isn’t corrected, the parade will die a slow death. We have to have police on the route and higher fences.
» ~K~ : Have there been any changes to your band? Or is there anything you would like to let your masqueraders know?
L.S.: As we go along, we are trying to correct mistakes we made in the previous year and our number one goal is making each masquerader fell appreciated in choosing our band because without them we would not have had the success over the years. We hired security last year and we will continue to do so in position number 2.
» ~K~ : For those who’ve never played mas, what kind of experience can they expect playing with Louis Saldenah Mas-K Club?
L.S.: Our band over the years is noted as a family band, the masquraders come first, classy costumes, beautiful people to be with on that day and are totally taken care of on the road Caribana day.
25th Anniversary, 2005
»
~K~ : How has Caribana evolved
for you, and what kind of future
do you envision for Caribana?
L.S.: Caribana
has changed over the years,
the young people have forced
designers to design around two
pieces which has limited us
from designing more beautiful
costumes, & we are basically
forced to comply otherwise they
are not going to participate.
We have done our part in Caribana
and our record speaks for itself.
15 times Band of the Year, 10
seconds and 2 thirds, and I
will leave it to the next generation
to make the changes. Caribana
is in good hands, we have about
seven bandleaders in the parade
who came from my band and are
doing quite well. I would like
to see the parade moved to a
better location and where we
can end in a park, so every
one can wine down (so to speak).
All my three sons are involved
in the band so the Saldenah
name will continue in mas and
hopefully when I am long gone
they will pay a tribute to me.
